FREMONT — A Canadian man arrested in Fremont last week is accused of killing his wife while his infant children slept on Christmas Eve 2007, days before he fled to the United States under an alias, authorities said.

Harinder Singh Cheema, 30, had been working and living under the assumed name of “Baljit Singh” in Fremont’s Centerville district until his arrest, said the U.S. Marshals Service.

More than seven years after the killing, authorities arrested Cheema outside his apartment in the 4400 block of Central Avenue. Cheema had remarried and been working as a limousine driver in Fremont, deputy U.S. Marshal Errol Watson said in a statement.

Authorities had been looking for the suspect since early 2008, when a Quebec judge issued Cheema an arrest warrant to stand trial in Canada for one count of second-degree murder, according to prosecutors.

On the morning of Dec. 24, 2007, he admitted to a friend that he had just killed his wife, Gurpreet Kaur, in their Montreal home, according to court documents.

Later that same day, he left his children with a different friend in Montreal, saying he needed to look for his wife. But Cheema never returned, court documents state.

On Christmas Day, police found Kaur dead from stab wounds on the living room floor in the Cheema residence.

Cheema is being held without bail in Santa Clara County Jail. Authorities soon will return him to Quebec to face the murder charge, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Cheema was taken into custody after a joint investigation that included Montreal police, U.S. marshals and Interpol, according to court documents.

“This arrest demonstrates that no matter how far you run, no matter where you go, you cannot escape justice,” said U.S. Marshal Don O’Keefe.